1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to semiconductor devices, and more particularly to a package-in-package (PIP) semiconductor device having optimized electrical signal paths to provide enhanced electrical performance.
2. Description of the Related Art
Package-in-package (PIP) semiconductor devices are currently known and used in the electrical arts. A typical PIP semiconductor device comprises various combinations of electronic components including passive devices, semiconductor dies, semiconductor packages, and/or other elements which are arranged in a horizontal direction, or stacked in a vertical direction on an underlying substrate. In many PIP devices, the substrate and the electronic components are interconnected to one another through the use of conductive wires alone or in combination with conductive bumps, with such electronic components thereafter being encapsulated by a suitable encapsulant material which hardens into a package body of the PIP device.
In typical PIP devices, a large number of conductive wires are needed to facilitate the electrical connection of the electronic components to each other and to the substrate in a prescribed pattern or arrangement. In the currently known PIP device configurations, and particularly those in which the electronic components are vertically stacked (i.e., extend perpendicularly relative to the substrate), the electrical signal paths in the PIP device are inevitably lengthened, thus resulting in a deterioration in the electrical performance of the PIP device. Further, the use of a large number of conductive wires leads to a high probability of shorting between the conductive wires in the encapsulation step described above as used to form the package body of the PIP device. Still further, in the event an increased number of electronic components are included in the PIP device, the design of the electrically conductive patterns on the substrate as needed to accommodate the conductive wires can be highly complex, thus adding to the difficulty in the fabrication of the PIP device and increasing the cost thereof. The present invention addresses these and other shortcomings of prior art PIP devices, as will be described in more detail below.